What I Wanted to be When I Grew Up
Not that I -have- grown up yet (there..I said it before anyone else could :P)
Back about 35 years ago, I wanted a job in aviation. I couldn't fly, because my eyes weren't good enough to be corrected to 20/40. But there was another job in the cockpit: Flight Engineer. That person did fuel calculations, throttle adjustments, systems minding, speed timing...he did more than the pilots did when it came to controlling the plane. And he -could- be a rated pilot, just in case. Sweet! So I took much of the higher math and physics courses in high school and did well in them.
Suddenly, Honeywell ( I think it was them), back in the late 70's came out with this thing called EFIS. It was a flight management system, that pretty much did it all for you; all the pilots had to do was type in what plane it was, where they were going, how they were gunna get there, and BAM! All done. The display screens (CRTs) had all of the plane's systems in easy to follow graphics, and the computers would tell you of their status. Super cool...if you were a pilot. Super ASDFGHL;GHKJ if you were a flight engineer. But no big deal...there were no aircraft rated to use these systems yet.
Then a new European start-up company called Airbus Industrie came out with their prototype A300, followed by Boeing with their super, brand new OMG planes..the 757 and 767, all of which were going to be rated for 2 pilots only..no 3rd crew member.So, for the foreseeable future, the only jobs were slowly going to disappear, leaving only the military and tiny 3rd world country airlines..and Russia.
So, drat...my dreams of flying were forever dashed.
What did the position look like? Well, here's a 747SP with the position shown well:
(stolen from airliners.net)
The person on the right is the FE...and he gets that whole console, most of the overhead, and stuff to his left to deal with. Never a dull moment for sure!
Back about 35 years ago, I wanted a job in aviation. I couldn't fly, because my eyes weren't good enough to be corrected to 20/40. But there was another job in the cockpit: Flight Engineer. That person did fuel calculations, throttle adjustments, systems minding, speed timing...he did more than the pilots did when it came to controlling the plane. And he -could- be a rated pilot, just in case. Sweet! So I took much of the higher math and physics courses in high school and did well in them.
Suddenly, Honeywell ( I think it was them), back in the late 70's came out with this thing called EFIS. It was a flight management system, that pretty much did it all for you; all the pilots had to do was type in what plane it was, where they were going, how they were gunna get there, and BAM! All done. The display screens (CRTs) had all of the plane's systems in easy to follow graphics, and the computers would tell you of their status. Super cool...if you were a pilot. Super ASDFGHL;GHKJ if you were a flight engineer. But no big deal...there were no aircraft rated to use these systems yet.
Then a new European start-up company called Airbus Industrie came out with their prototype A300, followed by Boeing with their super, brand new OMG planes..the 757 and 767, all of which were going to be rated for 2 pilots only..no 3rd crew member.So, for the foreseeable future, the only jobs were slowly going to disappear, leaving only the military and tiny 3rd world country airlines..and Russia.
So, drat...my dreams of flying were forever dashed.
What did the position look like? Well, here's a 747SP with the position shown well:
(stolen from airliners.net)
The person on the right is the FE...and he gets that whole console, most of the overhead, and stuff to his left to deal with. Never a dull moment for sure!